WAR ON LEYTE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 125, 23 November 1944, Page 7

WAR ON LEYTE

U.S. ROAD BLOCK HOLDS

JAP RELIEF EFFORT BROKEN (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

WASHINGTON, November 21. Another desperate Japanese effort to break the American road block in the Limon sector on Leyte has failed. This is annourced in General MacArthur's comuiuniquc, which says: "Units of the Thirty-second Division m the Tenth Corps sector are maintaining unrelenting pressure on the enemy bastion in Limon.

"The rugged terrain of the mountain pass is ideally suited for defence, and compels the time-consuming, piecemeal destruction of enemy pill-boxes entrenchments, and pockets of resistance to minimise our losses. "The enemy committed his First Division in a desperate effort to retain this critical position. His relieving forces had been bloodily repulsed and thrust back in a desperate effort to break our road block to the rear.

"Troops of the Twenty-fourth Division are combing the area south and west of Capoocan, where enemy forces are attempting to infiltrate to our command post, artillery positions and supply dumps. Elements of the 146 th Division in the Twenty-fourth Corps sector crushed an isolated enemy strong-point west of Dagami while southward a small counterattack against elements of the Seventh Division was easily repulsed. "Our heavy air units bombed enemysupply shipping and installations at Palompon. destroying dumps and (crippling two coastal vessels. Fighters strafed the enemy forward base of 'Valencia."